Blurts

Wow – Gary Stager sure does not like Daniel Pink. Ok, but he pushed it too far when he belittled Thomas Friedman.

There are plenty of folks out there with perspectives and little more – I agree. BTW – we each probably have our target groups – those who seem to tell a good story with little data. The money issue aside (I agree with you here regarding speaker fees and Daniel Pink’s work reminds me of the early days of Psychology Today), you might note that some of the most prominent researchers in the field of education suggest the constructivist position is pretty soft on empirical support. 

Dangerously Irrelevant post on parents who use online tools to make their wishes known to schools. In Grown Up Digital, Tapscott calles these folks “helicopter parents” and contends they not only attempt to influence schools, but also employers. I am guessing coaches have it the worst. As a college prof, the law gives us an out/requirement. When contacted by parents, we must suggest that we are not allowed to discuss student performance with anyone but the supposedly “adult” student.

Not that parental involvement is a bad thing, but too often the children who most need an advocate are not represented. Note that the post uses the phrase “well connected”. One of the issues of going to online activities is once students leave the equal access environment of the school, they are no longer equal. There is always a lag and it has unfolded over time like this – wealthy schools before less wealthy schools, wealthy families before poor families with access, wealthy families with high speed before poor families with high speed access, etc.

YouDiligence – check up on your kids.

a service launched late last year that alerts parents and educators to questionable content on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking websites.

The quote above did not come from the YouDiligence site, but from the way this product was described on TechCrunch. I bolded “educators”. Is this service really encouraging schools to identify their students and have a service search student social sites for questionable activity?

I like what Tapscott proposes in “Grown up digital”. If you are concerned with what your children are doing online, have them eat dinner with you a few times and discuss their online activities. Let them explain to you what interests them. Share your concerns and get a feel for how your children think about these situations. Trust them, but also identify boundaries and get their commitment to tell you if they get into situations that worry them.

Bill Gates gives TED talk

I am not certain I regard Bill Gates as an expert in any area other than the business of technology. His philanthropic efforts warrant great respect.

In this talk he does present his views on education (toward the middle) – How do you make a teacher great? Claims there are effective teaches in a narrow set of places (20%). Teacher prep is weak and is getting weaker. Having great teachers is the key and the variability in teacher quality is immense (unclear this is how measured).

Characteristics of these teachers – not necessarily senior teachers (quality increases for only 3 years), MA/MS does not matter. Says we have done little to study the characteristics of effective teachers (don’t agree). Pushes KIPP. Big on test scores.

Use digital video to identify effective strategies (this was a big push in PT3 – hardly a new idea, but PT3 is gone). I wonder if Northern Iowa still offers these resources.

Bill Gates has also taken to writing an annual letter outlining some of his initiatives. Here is the portion of this letter dealing with education.

The OLPC project has struggled. Some now see it as an educational alternative to the Kindle.

Check this – the scam described in this article ended up making national security news. Wow – we have made it to the big time. The article is a little vague about the North Dakota institution that was involved and it may have happended at other institutions, but it was in play at UND.

Now – from the BBC

The email to faculty members

Urgent! Bogus Parking Tickets Found on Campus Refer Recipients to Virus-laden Web site

Do Not Go To This Web Site!!!

A message concerning bogus parking tickets being distributed on campus that was sent out late Monday contained the URL of a Web site that carries a computer virus. We are resending that message below with the problem URL removed:

Here is the message:

UPD received a call on Jan. 31, 2009 pertaining to someone issuing bogus parking tickets in the parking lot directly east of the ramp. The ticket is yellow in color and states the following: “PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations. To view pictures with information about your parking preferences, go to XX.COM” (URL not used for computer safety reasons)

DO NOT GO TO THIS WEBSITE!! IT CONTAINS A VIRUS! If you visit the Web site and click on the link to view pictures of horrible parking, you will download a virus onto your computer.